BJPA Blog - culturehttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm
A blog by the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ Stanford Universityen-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 22:02:41 -0500Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:15:00 -0500BlogCFChttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssadministrator@bjpa.orgadministrator@bjpa.orgadministrator@bjpa.orgnoFein & Cohen to Yoffie: Let Secular Jews Be Secularhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2013/1/28/Fein--Cohen-to-Yoffie-Let-Secular-Jews-Be-Secular
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/Yoffie-Cohen-Fein.png" alt="yoffie-cohen-fein" /></p>
<p>Responding a HuffPo column by Rabbi Eric Yoffie (former President of the <a href="http://www.urj.org">Union for Reform Judaism</a>) entitled <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-eric-h-yoffie/the-self-delusions-of-secular-jews_b_2479888.html">&quot;The Self-Delusions of Secular Jews&quot;</a>, <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Leonard-Fein&amp;AuthorID=412">Leonard Fein</a> and BJPA Director <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?AuthorID=1">Steven M. Cohen</a> pen <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonard-fein/let-secular-jews-be-secular-jews_b_2567318.html">a defense of secular/cultural Judaism, also in the Huffington Post</a>. Excerpts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Secular Jews, Yoffie claims, regard themselves as &quot;people of reason and not of faith, as champions of modernity rather than slaves to some concept of God or other outmoded patterns of belief.&quot; They seek to &quot;throw off the oppressive power of the past.&quot;...</em> <em>Yoffie's description of so-called secular Jews rather closely mirrors the tradition of Reform Judaism....</em></p>
<p><em>True, some cultural or secular Jews can be dismissive of faith, if by faith we mean God-oriented belief. But nothing prevents honorable people from adhering to a faith pointed in other directions. One may, for example, have faith in the improvability of humankind, or in progress as the underlying cadence of the universe...</em></p>
<p><em>In our experience, secular Judaism is very far from withering, much less dying. Quite the contrary: A large number of Jews find Jewish identification and involvement in an entirely comfortable mode even if it is, in their view, more cultural than religious. Indeed, asked about how they define themselves in <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=14166">a national survey of American Jews sponsored by the Workmen's Circle and conducted by Steven M. Cohen and Samuel Abrams</a>, just 13 percent checked &quot;to a great extent&quot; when asked whether they were religious Jews. By contrast, slightly more - 16 percent -- called themselves secular Jews, and a hefty 36 percent saw themselves as cultural Jews...</em></p>
<p><em>Yoffie wants us to believe that &quot;values such as social justice, hospitality and </em>mentschlichkeit<em> (decency) ... are grounded in the sacred texts of Jewish religious tradition and ... have endured solely because of the authority that the religious tradition imposes.&quot; He does not recognize that by now these values have momentum on their own, that their derivation may be interesting to historians and theologians, but are of very little interest to their practitioners, including the thousands of Jewish social activists who champion the social and economic justice causes of labor, civil rights, peace, freedom, human rights, feminism and, most recently, environmentalism.</em></p>
<p><em> Yoffie complains that these allegedly faithless secular Jews continue to assemble in synagogues and to undertake acts of family life and communal celebration that are either explicitly religious or that radiate with the power of deep faith. Indeed, he may be drawing upon his familiarity with his own Reform movement. In the same survey we find that of those identifying as Reform, just 6 percent (6 percent!) see themselves as religious Jews &quot;to a great extent.&quot; Among the same Reform Jews three times as many (18 percent) see themselves as secular, and nearly seven times as many (41 percent) call themselves cultural Jews.</em></p>
<p><em> </em><em> The self-ascribed definitions as religious, cultural and secular blend into one another. Most who see themselves as at least somewhat religious also see themselves as equally cultural. In fact, about 40 percent of all American Jews call themselves both at least somewhat religious and at least somewhat cultural.</em><em> These blurry and fuzzy patterns stand in stark contrast with Yoffie's binary view of the world, one which sharply divides the faithful from the faithless...</em></p>
<em> </em>
<p><em> One wonders if Yoffie has taken to relating to cultural and secular Jews the way Orthodox Jews have often related to Reform, asserting a claim to authentic Torah-true Judaism and dismissing the distinctive virtues of the stubbornly ignorant and resistant others. Just as some Orthodox leaders can't let Reform Jews be Reform, Rabbi Yoffie can't let cultural Jews be cultural.</em></p>
<em> </em>
<p><em> Yoffie wants to make claims about Judaism's authentic roots. We prefer to give primacy to Judaism's wonderfully varied branches. One of those branches is Reform Judaism, Yoffie's obvious favorite; but just as assuredly, another is secular or cultural Judaism. And it is a great pity that Yoffie cannot being himself to acknowledge the authenticity of that sensibility, much less its transcendent (shall we say, religious?) quality. And it is an even greater pity, if not irony, that one of the most articulate and compelling advocates of religious pluralism cannot bring himself to celebrate the virtues and distinctiveness embodied in pluralistic cultural and secular approaches to being Jewish not only in America, but in Israel and the world as well. </em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonard-fein/let-secular-jews-be-secular-jews_b_2567318.html"><strong>&nbsp;Read the entire piece here.</strong></a></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Leonard-Fein&amp;AuthorID=412">BJPA publications by Leonard Fein.</a><br />
</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?AuthorID=1"><em><strong>BJPA publications by Steven M. Cohen</strong></em></a></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?AuthorID=4394">BJPA publications by Eric Yoffie</a></strong></em></p>
beliefdenominationsReform JudaismidentitypluralismreligiondialoguesecularismcultureMon, 28 Jan 2013 18:15:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2013/1/28/Fein--Cohen-to-Yoffie-Let-Secular-Jews-Be-SecularKol Nidreihttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/9/21/Kol-Nidrei
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/jolson-kol-nidre.JPG" alt="J-Vault logo" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;On Tuesday night, September 25th, Jews the world over (including many who go to synagogue only once per year) will gather in synagogues for the opening evening service of <a href="http://search.bjpa.org/search?client=default_frontend&amp;output=xml_no_dtd&amp;proxystylesheet=default_frontend&amp;filter=0&amp;getfields=*&amp;q=yom%20kippur&amp;sort=date:D:L:d1&amp;num=100&amp;lind=0">Yom Kippur</a>, a service commonly known by the name of the declaration that begins it: Kol Nidrei, &quot;All Vows...&quot; This liturgical climax of the Jewish year is known for its haunting and beautiful melody.</p>
<p>&nbsp;As a 1924 article from the <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=American%20Jewish%20Year%20Book">American Jewish Year Book</a> explains, however, the declaration of Kol Nidrei (it really isn't even a prayer) has a history of confusion and controversy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/JVault"><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/jvault_web_logo.JPG" alt="J-Vault logo" /></a></p>
<p><strong>From the J-Vault: <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=5659"><em>Kol Nidre</em></a> </strong>(1924)</p>
<p>Kol Nidrei, Professor Israel Davidson explains,</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>takes its name from the opening words and is recited at the beginning of the evening service of the Day of Atonement, has come down to us in two versions, one in Hebrew and one in Aramaic.</em>.. <em>[T]he Hebrew version, which contains a reference to the vows contracted during the year that has passed... presents a legal difficulty. For, according to law, vows already contracted cannot be annulled unless the votary explicitly states what these vows were and makes his statement before a board of three, and none of these conditions is required in connection with Kol Nidre. To overcome these difficulties, R. Meir b. Samuel, the son-in-law of Rashi, changed the text of Kol Nidre and made it to read as we have it now in the Aramaic version: &quot;from this Day of Atonement to the next Day of Atonement&quot;...</em></p>
<p><em>Kol Nidre presents a number of other difficulties. Why, for instance, is this prayer placed before the beginning of the services? What connection is there between the absolution of vows and the verse from Numbers 15:26, with which it concludes? If it is a prayer for forgiveness, why should the sin of non-fulfilment of vows be singled out from other transgressions for which the Day of Atonement is supposed to atone? How is it that this particular composition has come down to us in two languages?</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Professor Davidson goes on to offer numerous theories and explanations related to these questions. He also discusses rabbinic objections to Kol Nidrei at many points during Jewish history, from an array of religious leaders--from medieval sages to the <a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Reform-Judaism&amp;TopicID=171&amp;SortBy=PublicationYear&amp;SortDir=DESC&amp;MaxRows=20">Reform Movement</a>'s early leaders (who completely altered the text, retaining only the popular melody). Yet, he notes, Kol Nidrei has endured:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Historic Judaism, however, still braves the storm of accusations, safe in the consciousness of its integrity, and mindful of the wise adage not to indulge in too many explanations, because friends do not need them and enemies would not believe them.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=5659">More details about this publication...</a><br />
</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=5659"><em><strong>Download publication...</strong></em></a></p>
<blockquote> </blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/JVault"><img border="0" align="middle" alt="J-Vault logo" style="width: 123px; height: 108px;" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/lock.JPG" /></a></p>
<p>Bonus: for anyone interested in a contemporary religious explanation of Kol Nidrei's history and purpose, I can't resist embedding this video lecture from British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTyDi22_SFo">click here</a> if you can't see the embedded video player):</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vTyDi22_SFo" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
J-VaulthistoryreligionholidaysprayercultureFri, 21 Sep 2012 13:55:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/9/21/Kol-NidreiJudaism as a Consumer Good?http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/8/13/Judaism-as-a-Consumer-Good
<p><img border="0" align="middle" width="500" height="375" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/shopcart.JPG" alt="cart" /></p>
<p><a href="http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/cant-buy-me-judaism/">Writing for eJewish Philanthropy</a>, I react to two Forward articles this summer by <a href="http://forward.com/articles/157467/free-is-not-for-me/">David Bryfman</a> and <a href="http://forward.com/articles/158934/the-marketplace-for-synagogues/">Noam Neusner</a>. Excerpt:</p>
<blockquote><em>Bryfman argues that giving away major Jewish experiences for free devalues those experiences. &ldquo;Why would people want to pay for a Jewish experience,&rdquo; he writes, &ldquo;if&hellip; they can get Jewish products for free? And for a community that prides itself on wanting people to become more responsible, invested and committed, the very notion that we are prepared to give away things sends a mixed message&hellip;&quot;<br />
<br />
But what is it, exactly, that we want Jews to value? Is it specific &ldquo;Jewish experiences&rdquo;, or the Jewish experience, writ large? If the latter, then we shouldn&rsquo;t fear devaluing individual programs; they&rsquo;re the means, not the end...<br />
<br />
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, whom Bryfman quotes regarding the strange things people will do when something is free, also writes about a different problem which perfectly describes the trouble with Bryfman&rsquo;s approach. In his book Predictably Irrational, Ariely writes: &ldquo;we live simultaneously in two different worlds &ndash; one where social norms prevail, and the other where market norms make the rules. The social norms&hellip; are usually warm and fuzzy. Instant paybacks are not required&hellip; The second world, the one governed by market norms, is very different&hellip; The exchanges are sharp-edged &hellip; When you are in the domain of market norms, you get what you pay for &ndash; that&rsquo;s just the way it is.&rdquo; Ariely illustrates the absurdity of confusing these worlds with the example of paying your mother-in-law for Thanksgiving dinner. Bryfman&rsquo;s article makes this mistake, consigning Judaism to the world of market norms, when social norms are better-suited to meaningful Jewish commitment. Social norms do not preclude financial contribution, but Jewish communal contributions should be more like a married couple pooling their salaries for groceries, and less like a crowd of strangers ordering their own lunches. If this vision seems na&iuml;ve, that&rsquo;s because too many Jews lack a familial commitment to the Jewish people. Trying to change that by charging more fees is like trying to get kids to appreciate family dinners by having grandma collect admission at the door.</em><br />
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/cant-buy-me-judaism/"><strong>Read more at eJewish Philanthropy.</strong></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;The question of whether or not it's a good idea to treat Judaism as a market commodity is (naturally) not new. Here are some other publications of interest on this topic:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=1891"><strong>Understanding the Jewish Community Center Marketplace: A Celebration of Volunteerism and the Voluntary Process</strong></a> (1982) David Esekenazi:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Our agencies are heading into a very difficult period, largely because there are (and will almost certainly continue to be) fewer Jews. We will be going after a shrinking and a changing market. We will increasingly compete with other vendors who (in the minds of many of our potential customers) offer similar products.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Esekenazi changed his mind somewhat six years later, in <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=111"><strong>Revisiting the Jewish Community Center Marketplace</strong></a>:</p>
<blockquote> </blockquote><blockquote>
<p><em>Some years ago in this Journal I argued for the need to redirect our normal noncompetitive perspective and move more in the direction of competing with &quot;other vendors . . . [who], in the minds of many of our potential customers, offer similar products.&quot; In that article, I embraced the field of marketing as one of the most promising means of helping JCCs to better compete in the increasingly competitive and open marketplace. While I have not shut my eyes to the marketplace reality, I now wonder about the wisdom with which input from the field of marketing is being incorporated by many not-for-profit agencies. With hindsight, I would counsel more caution today in terms of how marketing ought to be used in a JCC. Unfortunately, I did not adequately consider at that time the effects of marketing upon basic institutional purpose, nor did I adequately distinguish in my own mind the fundamental differences between what I refer to in this article as &quot;method&quot; and &quot;purpose.&quot;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=2422">Markets and More?</a> </strong>(2001). Shari Cohen:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Surely any discussion of religion in public life needs to address the inexorable reach of commercialization into every aspect of human existence. We need to consider whether shopping and working are replacing social activism, civic duty or religious ritual as the boundaries between the roles of the customer, citizen, congregant and employee shift... By looking at five main areas &ndash; the market&rsquo;s monopolization of our time and attention, its increasing role in creating our loyalties and identifications, its shaping of our modes of thinking about individual choice, work&rsquo;s place in our lives, and the ways in which business might involve itself in critical aspects of social change &ndash; we can begin to sketch the crucial implications of these trends for independent thought, ethical sensibilities, collective action and human expression.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6347"><strong>The Jewish Marketplace</strong></a> (2004). Chava Weissler</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>As we know, American Jewry is struggling with the decline of traditional loyalties to congregation and community. Like other Americans, Jews live in a commodity culture, in which consumption is the main means of self-expression. There is a realization that Judaism resembles other leisure commodities offered to consumers in the marketplace, and is judged by similar criteria...</em></p>
</blockquote><blockquote> </blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6348"><strong>Missing: the Vision and the Values</strong></a> (2004). Andrew Silow-Carroll:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>[D]espite experience with marketing, Jewish communal institutions don&rsquo;t seem very good at it. While some individual advertisements and campaigns have been clever or appealing, they always seem to address short-term goals: How do we get you to come to this service? How can we entice you into enrolling in this course, or give to this campaign? This exemplifies a &ldquo;product-driven&rdquo; model of Jewish life, as if our institutions offer only discrete services to consumers. What is often missing from Jewish communal marketing is a reflection of the bedrock vision of the institution behind the ad &mdash; the core values and purposes that the institution hopes to share with its members.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6349"><strong>Advertising Judaism</strong></a> (2004). David Nelson:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Why do so many Jews have a visceral, negative reaction to the &ldquo;commercialization&rdquo; (by which we mean the selling) of Judaism? Some people feel that &ldquo;selling&rdquo; and &ldquo;advertising&rdquo; connote cheapness and lack of inherent worth. Should we sell Judaism like potato chips? Wouldn&rsquo;t that cheapen and commodify our sense of Judaism? People don&rsquo;t give up their lives, or stake their children&rsquo;s future, on commodities. But there are also ads for universities and hospitals, ads to discourage drug use, or smoking, or to encourage people to use public libraries. These ads represent institutions and causes that affect our survival and our ultimate welfare. And they advertise because we live in a very crowded marketplace of ideas, images, and products.</em></p>
</blockquote> <blockquote> </blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6350"><strong>Marketing Undermines Judaism</strong> </a>(2004). Jay Michaelson:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>To &ldquo;market&rdquo; Judaism, as Andrew Silow- Carroll and David Nelson suggest, contradicts exactly what makes Judaism worthwhile. Consumption co-opts our loves and energies to enhance our selfish desire (the yetzer hara), but Jewish practice reins in our selfish desire so that we can love and serve better. Marketing asks us to sublimate yearning into consumerism; Judaism asks us to restrain our consumerism and open up to yearning...</em></p>
<p><em>I know that some say we have to be &ldquo;realistic.&rdquo; We live in a society of constant marketing, they say, and to not participate will make Judaism a religion without adherents. And Judaism has always marketed itself, from the original purpose of the Hanukkah menorah to Chabad&rsquo;s use of it in American public squares. But we undermine Judaism by dumbing it down, dressing it up as &ldquo;cool&rdquo; or oversimplifying what Silow-Carroll calls the Jewish vision of &ldquo;success.&rdquo; We can and should invite Jews to learn about and love their tradition. But to treat Judaism as something to be consumed is to start down a spiritual path on the wrong foot. A real religious life is not something that one buys or sells. If Judaism is to transform, it will require full participation, a yearning heart. If you can buy it, it&rsquo;s not holy.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most relevant to Neusner's article is this Sh'ma article from just this February: <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=13584"><strong>Synagogue Membership: What's the Deal?</strong></a> Sara Moore Litt:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>[I]f you are a Jewish consumer looking for value in any traditional cost/benefit sense, don&rsquo;t join a synagogue. It is expensive and you can get almost all the benefits synagogues purport to offer members either for free or at a much lower cost if you buy them a la carte... But what keeps all of us renewing our memberships despite the complaints is that we have found a place where we can confront the central questions of our existence. When that happens, the synagogue becomes a place where we connect to something larger than ourselves &mdash; to our community, to ideas that can transform our world, and even to a transcendent experience. If you join that kind of synagogue, membership dues are a bargain and not a burden. They become, in consumer language, a value proposition. These intangible benefits of membership are the only ones that make the high dollar cost of being a synagogue member &ldquo;worth it.&rdquo; Anything less is a bad deal.</em></p>
</blockquote>
economyfundraising/philanthropyengagementdiscourseidentitymarketingcultureMon, 13 Aug 2012 14:00:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/8/13/Judaism-as-a-Consumer-GoodNow What?http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/4/27/Now-What
<p><a href="http://www.speakerslab.org/"><img width="600" height="204" border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/conversation.png" alt="image" /></a></p>
<p>Interested in American Jewish identity? Concerned about the waning support of quality Jewish art and culture? Enjoy free events?&nbsp; Us too! Check out &ldquo; Now What? The future of New Jewish Culture&rdquo;, a town hall-style event taking place on May 15 at 7pm, hosted by the 14th Street Y. Ten experts at the forefront of Jewish culture will discuss topics including funding, identity, innovation.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong><em><a href="http://www.speakerslab.org/">Now What? The Future of New Jewish Culture</a></em></strong><em> takes a critical look at the New Jewish Culture movement of the last ten years and its precarious position today. This town hall-style event takes place May 15 at 7pm and is hosted by the 14th Street Y. &ldquo;Now What?&rdquo; is the first event presented by Speakers&rsquo; Lab, a new public programming initiative of the Posen Foundation U.S., and is presented in collaboration with The Jewish Daily Forward.<br />
<br />
&nbsp;After a decade of flourishing Jewish creativity, major Jewish cultural enterprises are being forced to scale back operations or close entirely. Using recent funding cuts as a springboard to examine the most pressing issues facing new Jewish arts and culture, &ldquo;Now What?&rdquo; addresses:<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>--- New perspectives on American Jewish identity</em><br />
<em>--- Waning support for quality Jewish art and culture</em><br />
<em>--- Strategies for cultivating Jewish art and culture in the future</em></p>
<p><em>Among the panelists are Jewish artists, funders, presenters and critics, including: Alana Newhouse, Editor-in-Chief of Tablet Magazine; Jody Rosen, music critic for Slate Magazine; Elise Bernhardt, President and CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Culture; Ari Roth, Artistic Director of Theater J; Peter L. Stein, former Executive Director and current advisor and consultant to the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival; Stephen Hazan Arnoff, Executive Director of the 14th Street Y and LABA: The National Laboratory for New Jewish Culture; Daniel Sieradski, organizer of Occupy Judaism; David Jordan Harris, Executive Director of Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council; and Rokhl Kafrissen, Yiddish arts critic. The discussion is moderated by Dan Friedman, Arts and Culture Editor at The Jewish Daily Forward.&rdquo;</em></p>
<p><em>Seating is limited and pre-registration encouraged. Sign-up at www.speakerslab.org or by calling 212-564-6711 x 305.</em></p>
<p><em>Event and Venue Info:<br />
The Theater at the 14th Street Y<br />
344 East 14th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues)<br />
New York, NY 10003<br />
May 15, 2012 7pm</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Personally, I would love to find out the speakers&rsquo; views on why Jews aren&rsquo;t supporting Jewish arts and culture, given that Jews have a high track record of giving to other philanthropic causes. Why the funding cuts, and why now? Did we as Jews take a group vote and decide that Jewish magazines and music are suddenly irrelevant? Does this imply that the future of Jewish arts and culture is a bleak one?</p>
fundraising/philanthropyartcultureFri, 27 Apr 2012 08:00:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/4/27/Now-WhatLanguage, Culture, & Schoolhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/22/Language-Culture--School
<p>Two articles from the <a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=Journal%20of%20Jewish%20Communal%20Service&amp;VolumeIssue=Vol%2E86%2FNo%2E1%2F2">Spring 2011 issue of the Journal of Jewish Communal Service</a> caught our attention recently, in light of our upcoming event this Monday (see flier below for details). The event will explore issues facing dual language public schools -- institutions which might be viewed by some as vehicles to preserve and transmit cultural identities, while others would seek to minimize or oppose this goal since public schools ought to serve society as a whole, rather than individual cultural sub-groups. (A viewpoint from the perspective of promoting multiculturalism might not view these two goals as being in tension.)</p>
<p>BJPA didn't have these articles in mind while planning the event, but they're worth excerpting in advance of it.</p>
<p><strong>Leon Wieseltier<span style="font-style: italic;">: </span></strong><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=13799"><strong><em>Language, Identity, and the Scandal of American Jewry</em></strong></a><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; outline-width: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri,arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br />
</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>...</p>
<p>The American Jewish community is the fi rst great community in the history of our people that believes that it can receive, develop, and perpetuate the Jewish tradition <em>not</em> in a Jewish language. By an overwhelming majority, American Jews cannot read or speak or write Hebrew or Yiddish. This is genuinely shocking. American Jewry is quite literally unlettered. The assumption of American Jewry that it can do without a Jewish language is an arrogance without precedent in Jewish history. And this illiteracy, I suggest, will leave American Judaism and American Jewishness forever crippled and scandalously thin... Without Hebrew, the Jewish tradition will not disappear entirely in America, but most of it will certainly disappear...</p>
<p>In America, the first evidence of Jewish illiteracy occurs as early as 1761 and 1766, when Isaac Pinto published his translations of the liturgy into English. He was acting out of a sense of crisis, out of his feeling that Hebrew, as he put it, needed to &ldquo;be reestablished in Israel.&rdquo; Of the American Jewish community of his time, Pinto recorded that Hebrew was &ldquo;imperfectly understood by many; by some, not at all.&rdquo; In 1784, Haym Solomon found it necessary to address an inquiry in the matter of a certain inheritance to Rabbi David Tevele Schiff of the Great Synagogue in London, but the renowned Jewish leader could not write the Hebrew epistle himself, and so he enlisted the help of a local Jew from Prague. In 1818, at the consecration in New York of a building for the Shearith Israel synagogue, Mordecai Emanuel Noah observed that &ldquo;with the loss of the Hebrew language may be added the downfall of the house of Israel.&rdquo;...</p>
<p>Of course, I do not mean to deny the validity or the utility of translation, which was also a primary activity of Jewish intellectuals throughout the centuries... Translation has always represented an admirable realism about the actual cultural situation of the Jews in exile. Whatever the linguistic delinquencies of the Jews, their books must not remain completely closed to them. Better partial access than no access at all, obviously.</p>
<p>Moreover, we are American Jews; that is to say, we believe in the reality of freedom, and we are prepared to pay its price... The requirement that a Jew know a Jewish language is not a requirement that a Jew know only a Jewish language, and it is certainly not a requirement that a Jew express only one belief in only one means of expression... My question to the Jewish writer in America is not, what language can you write? My question is, what language can you read?...</p>
<p>Illiteracy is nothing less than a variety of blindness, and the vast majority of American Jews are blind. The extent of this blindness&mdash;and it is a willed blindness, a blindness that can be corrected&mdash;can be illustrated anecdotally. Here is a tale. Some years ago, the exiled president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was traveling around the United States in the hope of enlisting sympathy for his cause, and he went to New York for a meeting with the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. Now, in his youth Aristide had studied at a seminary in Jerusalem, and he happens to be fluent in Hebrew. It seemed entirely natural and right, in his view, to address the assembled representatives of the Jewish community in what he took to be their own tongue, or at least one of their tongues. And so he began to speak to our leaders in Hebrew. After a few minutes, the <em>negidim</em> rather sheepishly asked their distinguished non-Jewish guest if he could make his remarks in English, because they could not understand what he was saying...</p>
<p>All this is not justifiable. It represents a breathtaking communitywide irresponsibility. Between every generation, not only in circumstances of war but also in circumstances of peace, much is always lost. Only a small fraction of the works of the human spirit ever survives the war against time, but the quantity of the Jewish tradition that is slipping through our fingers in America is unprecedented in our history. And it is the illiteracy of American Jewry that makes it complicit in this oblivion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=13799">More details...</a><br />
</em></p>
<p><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=13799"><em>Download directly...</em></a></p>
<p><strong>Adam R. Gaynor:<em> <a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=13788">Beyond the Melting Pot: Finding a Voice for Jewish Identity in Multicultural American Schools</a></em></strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>For the better part of a century, integration has characterized the Jewish experience in America, but modern Jewish education struggles to reverse that trend by separating Jewish youth from their non-Jewish peers and herding them into the walls of our communal institutions. This model ignores a particularly acute demographic reality: most American Jews no longer affiliate with the communal institutions in which Jewish learning takes place. Consequently, this article posits that the key to providing high-quality Jewish education with the majority of Jewish students, who do not access Jewish learning or intensive Jewish experiences, is to reach them in the multicultural environments in which they live and learn daily. More specifically, I argue that we need to create, support, and replicate programs that are integrated elements of school communities, the places in which Jewish kids and young adults spend the majority of their time...</p>
<p>...It is worthwhile to note that although Jews are well represented and largely successful in universities and schools, Jewish content is generally absent. Often, when Jewish content is integrated into curricula, Jews and Jewish culture are portrayed as obsolete. Jewish content most often appears in courses about Bible, representing ancient Jewish history, or about the Holocaust, representing Jewish victimization. For Jewish and non-Jewish students alike, the implicit message conveyed through these choices (in the absence of other content) is that Jewish culture lacks contemporary relevance. When prominent Jews, such as Karl Marx, Franz Kafka, and Bella Abzug, are studied, the fact of their <em>Jewishness</em> and its impact on their work remain unexplored. On occasion, Jews emerge in elective courses about the Middle East, but are often portrayed as a monolithic and imperialist group. The diversity of Jewish opinions about the Middle East and the complex modern history of Jewish identities and communities that have affected this topic remain unexamined...</p>
<p>Historically, the problem of representation in educational institutions and curricula is not unique to Jews. For traditionally marginalized and disempowered groups such as communities of color, women, gays and lesbians, and all combinations thereof, the problems described above have existed to a greater or lesser degree for centuries. However, for several decades now, other historically disempowered communities have increasingly seen themselves reflected in the curricular and extracurricular programming of public and private schools on the primary, secondary, and university levels; there is no good reason why Jewish students cannot see themselves reflected in these spaces as well...</p>
<p>Multicultural education has had a profound impact on the contemporary educational landscape, particularly following periods of intense student activism in the late 1960s and early 1990s. In concert with feminist theory, it has brought significant attention to the histories and literature of people of color and women through curricular enrichment and the founding of specialized, interdisciplinary departments at colleges; it has led to the diversification of faculty and student bodies; it has forced schools and colleges to reconsider discriminatory policies; and it has increased faculty professional development on cross-cultural teaching that can lead to improved achievement (Tatum, 2003). However, except for the recent growth of Jewish Studies courses and departments, Jewish content is still nearly absent from curricula, and Jewish culture is largely ignored by student services offices...</p>
<p>Ironically, it is the Jewish community&rsquo;s own resistance to multicultural education that has prevented our inclusion in educational curricula... Jewish immigrants in the early twentieth century were fierce proponents of public education; unlike Catholic immigrants who opted for parochial education in large numbers, Jews valued public schools as a route toward acculturation (Krasner, 2005). Jews have also been fierce defenders of the separation between church and state and have supported the exclusion of religion as a census category. Jews embraced the universalism of the Enlightenment, which was reinvented in the melting pot motif, as a ticket to achieve unprecedented success in America. For many Jews, multiculturalism theoretically threatened the universalism that facilitated this achievement...</p>
<p>The prevailing, isolationist model of Jewish education that pulls students out of their everyday lives and separates them from their peers has not inspired significant participation. Sometimes, separating and feeling grounded as a group are important, and we should honor those needs. However, if we are to inspire Jewish students to feel invested in their Jewishness, then Jewish learning has to imbue their everyday lives with meaning. The key to doing this is through high-quality Jewish education in the multicultural environments in which they live and learn daily. Our aim should be to create, support, and replicate programs that are integrated elements of students&rsquo; schools, the communities in which they spend most of their time. Multicultural education is the practical framework for this approach.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=13788">More details...</a><br />
</em></p>
<p><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=13788"><em>Download directly...</em></a></p>
<p><strong>And don't miss the event this Monday:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/events" target="_blank"><img align="middle" width="500" border="0" height="647" alt="flier" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/duallangfinal.png" /></a></p>
democracycontinuityeventsdiscoursecommunal responsibilitydiversityassimilationidentitycultureeducationyiddishlanguagehebrewpeoplehoodacculturationThu, 22 Mar 2012 09:10:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/22/Language-Culture--SchoolFrom the J-Vault: "in his own language"http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/15/JVault-in-his-own-language
<p><img align="middle" border="0" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/jvault_web_logo.JPG" alt="J-Vault logo" /></p>
<p>&quot;For the success of this work of Americanizing and educating the immigrant,&quot; writes Rabbi Henry Cohen, &quot;one thing is essential. You must go to him first in a friendly and democratic way in his own language.&quot;</p>
<p>As you may have seen, our <a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs070/1102433540041/archive/1109491527423.html">March newsletter</a> featured a <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=13757">Reader's Guide to Jewish Languages</a>, in connection with an <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/bjpa-03-26-2012">upcoming event on Dual Language Public Schools</a>. (March 26th, from 3 to 5. <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/">Click here</a> to RSVP.) At the event, educators and scholars will discuss issues of language and education, especially as they relate to issues of culture and identity in the United States. This installment of the J-Vault explores related concepts.</p>
<p><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=1517"><img align="right" width="400" height="280" border="0" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/jvimmigrant.png" alt="IMAGE DESC" /></a></p>
<p><strong>This week, from the J-Vault: <a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=1517"><em>The Immigrant Publication Society</em></a></strong> (1915)</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>You ask me to give you an account of our new society. I am very glad to do so, particularly at this time, when the need of making all our immigrants a vital part of the nation is greater than ever before...</em></p>
<p><em>For the success of this work of Americanizing and educating the immigrant, one thing is essential. You must go to him first in a friendly and democratic way in his own language. This is the only way to reach him. Every stress must of course be laid upon the necessity of his learning English, and simple and practical books on learning it must be promptly offered him. But to the cleverest, the simplest English book is at first impossible. Not everyone has the gift of languages. Some few never learn any English at all, but, fortunately, experience gives abundant proof that the immigrant can absorb the spirit of the new country through his own language...</em></p>
</blockquote><blockquote>
<p><em>The first step in so essentially a patriotic American work was the preparation, curiously enough at the suggestion of the Royal Italian Immigration Commission, of an Immigrant's Guide, telling the newcomer the things which he needs to know, and which he knows he needs... The success of this &quot;Little Green Book,&quot; as it was at once called, was immediate. With the cordial help of many interested Jewish societies, it was soon carefully adapted in every detail for the use of the English - speaking immigrants.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Describing the success of the book, and bolstering his case for the need of a new organization dedicated to publishing non-English books, Rabbi Cohen noted that the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/">New York Public Library</a> was in the midst of a sharp rise in demand for Yiddish books.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>But ordinarily the librarian in opening a department in a foreign language is forced to depend upon a chance adviser, with consequences that are sometimes amusing, sometimes really disastrous. The problem presents serious difficulties. How can the librarian be sure of giving the immigrant the best books and papers in his own language, not only for his pleasure, but very practically to help him, explaining America and its opportunities, putting before him the means of learning English, of becoming an American citizen, and of satisfying many of the most important necessities of his new life? How can the librarian be sure that she is not innocently placing on the shelves books that are atheistic, anarchistic, propagandizing, indecent or simply &quot;trash?&quot; What hooks should she buy first? What size are they? What do they cost? How shall the foreigner be taught the privileges and rules of the library?...</em></p>
<p><em>How remarkable a thing it is that the first popular Yiddish bibliography published in America should be printed at the insistence of American librarians&mdash;one of a series that Mr. Anderson, with the practical experience of New York, says, are: &quot;Exactly what we need to help us make the immigrant understand America and its institutions.&quot;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=1517">Click for more information...</a><br />
</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=1517">Download the publication...</a><br />
</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/bjpa-03-26-2012"><em><strong>***Join us on March 26***</strong></em></a></p>
<p><img align="middle" border="0" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/lock.JPG" style="width: 123px; height: 108px;" alt="J-Vault logo" /></p>
languageJ-VaulteventsacculturationhistorydiversitypublicationsimmigrationcultureThu, 15 Mar 2012 11:27:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/15/JVault-in-his-own-languageForging a Unity Through Diversityhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/14/Forging-a-Unity-Through-Diversity
<p>For a new installment of our&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Office-Hours">&quot;Office Hours&quot; video series</a>, Prof.&nbsp;<a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/foldy">Erica Foldy</a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wagner.nyu.edu/">NYU Wagner</a> suggests that there need not be any tension between unity and diversity. For more in this video series, see:&nbsp;<a dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Office-Hours" target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bjpa.org%2Fblog%2Findex.cfm%2FOffice-Hours&amp;session_token=JtymDYu9Q48on-q37fHQgUDerAl8MTMzMTY3MTk5MEAxMzMxNTg1NTkw">http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Office-Hours</a></p>
<p>Browse BJPA for Diversity:&nbsp;<a dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" title="http://bit.ly/xZJsNT" target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/xZJsNT">http://bit.ly/xZJsNT</a></p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z33f-c-Opuk" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p><em>Note: if you cannot see this embedded video, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z33f-c-Opuk">click here.</a></em></p>
ethicsOffice HoursdiscoursediversitypluralismethnicityvideodialoguevaluescultureWed, 14 Mar 2012 09:30:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/14/Forging-a-Unity-Through-DiversityMaking Diversity Workhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/12/Making-Diversity-Work
<p>For a new installment of our <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Office-Hours">&quot;Office Hours&quot; video series</a>, Prof. <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/foldy">Erica Foldy</a> of <a href="http://www.wagner.nyu.edu">NYU Wagner</a> describes her research on color-blind and color-cognizant approaches to diversity in the workplace.</p>
<p>For more in this video series, see: <a data-redirect-href-updated="true" href="http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bjpa.org%2Fblog%2Findex.cfm%2FOffice-Hours&amp;session_token=JtymDYu9Q48on-q37fHQgUDerAl8MTMzMTY3MTk5MEAxMzMxNTg1NTkw" target="_blank" title="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Office-Hours" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Office-Hours</a></p>
<p>Browse BJPA for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Race -- <a href="http://bit.ly/z65NoE" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/z65NoE" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">http://bit.ly/z65NoE</a></li>
<li>Ethnicity: <a href="http://bit.ly/y775XL" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/y775XL" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">http://bit.ly/y775XL</a></li>
<li>Diversity: <a href="http://bit.ly/xZJsNT" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/xZJsNT" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr" class="yt-uix-redirect-link">http://bit.ly/xZJsNT</a></li>
</ul>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ipxEmRFhaME"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Note: if you cannot see this embedded video, </em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipxEmRFhaME"><em>click here.</em></a></p>
workplacedemocracyOffice Hoursmanagement and administrationdiscoursediversityracepluralismethnicitysocial issuesvaluescultureMon, 12 Mar 2012 17:05:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/3/12/Making-Diversity-WorkBlack-Jewish Campus Dialoguehttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/27/BlackJewish-Campus-Dialogue
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=3820"><img align="middle" width="500" height="613" border="0" alt="Face to Face" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/face2face.png" /></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>The scene is a dormitory lounge at a prestigious New Eng land university. Almost a hundred Black and Jewish students have filed in dripping wet from a spring rain for the fourth in a series of dialogues... A young Jewish woman, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, tells of the impact of her parents wartime experiences. A Black man talks about the time just a few years ago when his high school basketball team's bus was overturned by the opposing team in order to keep him, the lone black player, out of the game... Although the words are painful, when the session is over there is buoyancy and hope in this room a sense of growing solidarity and trust between two groups who have discovered common ground.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Continuing our <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Black-History-Month">Black History Month series</a>, today we excerpt <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=3820"><em>Face to Face: Black-Jewish Dialogues on Campus</em></a>, by <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Cherie-Brown&amp;AuthorID=2451">Cherie Brown</a>, for <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Publisher=American%20Jewish%20Committee%20%28AJC%29">the AJC</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Blacks and Jews pair up with members of their own groups. Each member of a pair takes a turn repeating the word Jew (for the Blacks) or Black (for the Jews) while the other person shares with as little censorship as possible the first thought that comes to mind at each repetition of the term. This is a way of bringing to the surface attitudes and misinformation--ethnic slurs and stereotypes--the students have absorbed from their environment but know better than to say out loud or believe...</em></p>
<p><em>[S]tudents divide into separate Black and Jewish caucuses where each shares what has been good and what has been difficult about belng Black or Jewish... When the caucuses return individual students share their stories with the entire workshop. The others listen carefully without interruption, discussion or questions The stories are often accompanied by tears, shaking and expressions of anger. For many students this is the most moving and transforming part of the workshop...</em></p>
<p><em>Every workshop needs to include some time for students to translate what they've learned into concrete goals and programs to effect change on their campus. Toward the end of their time together students brainstorm all the possible programs that might be implemented on their campus to continue the work begun in the dialogue...</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The rest of the document includes quotes from participants in these programs, and further guidelines for organizers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=3820"><em><strong>Read more...</strong></em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=3820"><em><strong>Download directly...</strong></em></a></p>
<p>To read more publications at intersections of Black and Jewish history, see this special <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/viewPublishedBookshelf.cfm?id=52759DE4-2590-26BF-AE830B622A7753ED">Bookshelf for Black History Month.</a></p>
<p>(Remember, if you're a <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Login/register.cfm">registered</a> user [it's free], you can create bookshelves like this one to save sets of BJPA documents for later. Keep them private, or publish them to the web to share with colleagues. Sort manually, or automatically by date or title. View or print the lists, or export to MS Word for easy bibliographies.)</p>
studentsyoung adultscommunity relationsBlack-Jewish relationsyouthBlack History Monthdiscoursehigher educationdialoguecultureMon, 27 Feb 2012 15:15:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/27/BlackJewish-Campus-Dialogue"But their God runs Mississippi..."http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/22/But-their-God-runs-Mississippi
<p>&quot;Jews have been and remain marginal to the South,&quot; writes Deborah Dash Moore:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Their marginality is intrinsic to their existence as southern Jews. African Americans have been and remain central to the South. It is impossible to imagine southern culture, politics, religion, economy, or in short, any aspect of southern life, without African Americans.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Moore's comparison of African American and Jewish American history is presented in her chapter, <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=2473">&quot;Separate Paths: Blacks and Jews in the Twentieth-Century South,&quot;</a> from the book Struggles in the Promised Land: Toward a History of Black-Jewish Relations in the United States. Continuing our <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Black-History-Month">Black History Month series</a>, some excerpts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The history of Jews and Blacks in the South reveals enormous contrasts and few similarities. Differences include demographic and settlement patterns, occupational distribution, forms of culture, religion, and community life, even politics and the prejudice and discrimination endured by each group. Visible Jewish presence in the South is considered so atypical that when large numbers of Jews (that is, over 100,000) actually did settle in a southern city, as they did In Miami and Miami Beach after World War II, the entire area of South Florida was soon dismissed as no longer southern and jokingly referred to as a suburb of New York City... In the popular mind as well as in reality, the South would not be the South without Black Americans. Jews, by contrast, offer an interesting footnote to understanding the region, an opportunity to examine the possibilities and cost of religious and ethnic diversity in a society sharply divided along color lines...</p>
<p>Irrespective of where they settled (except, of course, for Miami), Jews usually worked in middleman minority occupations not considered typically southern: as peddlers, shopkeepers, merchants, manufacturers, and occasionally professionals (doctors, dentists, druggists). Main street was their domain. Initially Jews lived behind or above their stores; as they prospered they moved to white residential sections of town...</p>
<p>By contrast, African Americans worked at a wide range of occupations from sharecropper and farmer, to day laborer and industrial worker, to a handful of middle and upper class positions, including storekeepers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and professionals serving a segregated society... Unlike Jews, many of whom were self-employed, Blacks largely worked for others, usually whites, restricted by custom and prejudice to the least desirable jobs in each sector of the economy...</p>
<p>Probably the single most important communal institution was the Black church. Virtually all African Americans, seeking individual salvation and collective spirituality, joined a church, which was usually either Baptist or Methodist. The church not only offered Sunday services and schooling, but it also sponsored social welfare, and civic and cultural activities... Synagogues assumed far less centrality in the Jewish community, though far greater percentages of Jews joined them in the South than in the North...</p>
<p>Usually accepted as white, and not summarily excluded from participation in civic affairs as were African Americans, Jews tried to maintain communal institutions focused upon internal Jewish needs, such as community centers, B'nai B'rith lodges, social welfare organizations, as well as women's clubs and Zionist groups, while supporting white community endeavors not connected wirh the church, such as cultural activities, better business and chamber of commerce groups, and philanthropic endeavors. Their success in this dual enterprise depended upon politics; during the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan after its reestablishment in 1915 in Georgia, Jews generally found themselves unwelcome in both political and civic endeavors. This chilly environment warmed substantially during World War II, and southern Jews faced the dawning of the postwar civil rights era feeling integrated into the white community. Observers in the 1960s discovered even among relatively small Jewish populations that two communities often coexisted, divided sharply by their &quot;degree of Southernness.&quot;... Opposition to Zionism, and by extension Jewish nationalism and ethnicity, coincided with a high degree of &quot;Southernness.&quot; Irrespective of ideology, however, southern Jews uncovered no antisemitism among their neighbors, although many feared that it might be &quot;stirred up&quot; by political change.&quot; Outsiders visiting their fellow Jews rarely understood such sentiments... Coming down to Mississippi to help with legal defense of those involved in the voter registration drive, Marvin Braiterman, a lawyer, decided to attend services at a local synagogue to escape the tensions of the week. &quot;We know right from wrong, and the difference between our God and the segregationist God they talk about down here,&quot; his Jewish hosts told him. &quot;But their God runs Mississippi, not ours. We have to work quietly, secretly. We have to play ball. Anti-Semitism is always right around the corner.&quot;...</p>
<p>World War II changed southern Jewish attitudes toward politics, but not enough to bring them into convergence with African Americans' increasing demands for equal civil rights and for an end to desegregation. Jews migrating to the South after the war carried their politics in their suitcases, but since 80 percent of these northern newcomers went down to Miami, they exerted little influence on the emerging civil rights movement. A handful of young rabbis joined forces with Christian clergy across the color line, but most feared to speak out lest they lose their positions...</p>
<p>The shift from protest to politics--especially the voter registration drives organized by SNCC in 1964 that drew large numbers of northern Jewish students to the South-exacerbated southern Jewish discomfort. The rabbi of Meridian, Mississippi, urged Michael Schwerner to leave, fearing that white anger at Schwerner might turn against local Jews.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Much more fascinating history follows, including the bitter conflict between the Black and Jewish communities surrounding the Leo Frank case.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=2473"><em><strong>Read more...</strong></em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=2473"><em><strong>Download directly...</strong></em></a></p>
<p><em>To read more publications at intersections of Black and Jewish history, see this special&nbsp;</em><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/viewPublishedBookshelf.cfm?id=52759DE4-2590-26BF-AE830B622A7753ED"><strong><em>Bookshelf for Black History Month</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p>
<p><em>(Remember, if you're a&nbsp;</em><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Login/register.cfm"><em>registered</em></a><em>&nbsp;user [it's free], you can&nbsp;</em><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/_Admin/Bookshelf/adminBookshelf.cfm"><em>create bookshelves</em></a><em>&nbsp;like this one to save sets of BJPA documents for later. Keep them private, or publish them to the web to share with colleagues. Sort manually, or automatically by date or title. View or print the lists, or export to MS Word for easy bibliographies.)</em></p>
Black-Jewish relationspoliticsdiscoursediversityculturecommunity relationsBlack History Monthhistoryracismracecommunity buildingcivil rightsantisemitismdialogueWed, 22 Feb 2012 11:30:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/22/But-their-God-runs-MississippiJews & Black American Culturehttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/10/Jews--Black-American-Culture
<blockquote>
<p>Jews in the United States today are creating a Jewish culture that draws heavily on African American and, in the case of reggae, Afro-Caribbean styles of expression.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So writes Eric Goldstein in the <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=AJS%20Perspectives%3A%20The%20Magazine%20of%20the%20Association%20for%20Jewish%20Studies&amp;VolumeIssue=Fall%202007">Fall 2007</a> issue of <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=AJS%20Perspectives%3A%20The%20Magazine%20of%20the%20Association%20for%20Jewish%20Studies">AJS Perspectives.</a> Continuing our <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Black-History-Month">Black History Month series</a>, let us explore <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=2612"><strong>Fashioning Jewishness in a Black and White World:</strong></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Although this trend is being pursued by many types of Jews, it owes much of its current vogue to the lively subculture known as the &ldquo;Jewish hipster&rdquo; movement and its unofficial organ, <em>Heeb</em> magazine. Since its debut in 2002, Heeb has often linked Jews with blacks as part of its overall campaign to demonstrate that Jewishness can be &ldquo;cool,&rdquo; a point often made with <em>Heeb</em>&rsquo;s special brand of over-the-top comedy. The magazine&rsquo;s very first cover, for example, featured black hands placing a round piece of shmurah matzoh on a turntable, a theme echoed in a long-running satirical advertisement in which an African American man proclaims a piece of Streit&rsquo;s matzoh to be &ldquo;a big ass cracker!&rdquo;...</p>
<p>...The trend so apparent in <em>Heeb</em> soon appeared in other quarters as well. In 2003, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman presented the first &ldquo;Jewxploitation film,&rdquo; the <em>Hebrew Hammer</em>, which used similar comic hyperbole to explicitly link Jews and African Americans. Drawing on the popular blaxploitation genre of the 1970s, the film followed the adventures of a tough Jewish action hero who speaks with &ldquo;a mix of Black Panther argot and Yiddish&rdquo;<br />
and &ldquo;struts through the &lsquo;chood&rsquo; instilling Jewish pride in its youth.&rdquo; The music industry, as suggested above, has become perhaps the most active arena in which young Jews link themselves with black culture. The most famous example is Matisyahu (n&eacute; Matthew Paul Miller), the Chabad/Lubavitch devotee who was named top reggae artist of 2006 by <em>Billboard</em> magazine...</p>
<p>...In all of these cases, it is apparent that the use of black images and style allow young Jews to link themselves to what they perceive as the assertiveness and independence of African Americans. Despite contemporary society&rsquo;s claim to be a &ldquo;multicultural&rdquo; one, the black-white divide is still a powerful enough construct to make African Americans the most powerful symbol of difference in American society. As a result, they are an attractive touchstone for Jews who have become frustrated with the constraints placed on them by their membership in the white mainstream...</p>
<p>...In the 1920s and 1930s, Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker and other Jewish performers were well known for their blackface routines, which lampooned blacks but also contained elements of tribute and identification... As memoirs of the interwar years record, Jewish youth frequently listened to &ldquo;race records&rdquo; and invited black musicians to perform at their dances. Some made excursions to Harlem and other black neighborhoods in the urban north to seek out nightclubs and dance halls and sometimes romantic liaisons...</p>
<p>...What, then, separates the contemporary Jewish appropriation of black culture from these earlier examples? First and foremost, prewar Jews who experimented with black culture did so under a very different set of social circumstances. Not yet fully vested as a part of the white mainstream, Jews before 1945 were often described, and described themselves, as members of a distinct &ldquo;race.&rdquo; Although this did not necessarily mean that they were seen as nonwhite, it did mean that they occupied an uncertain place in America&rsquo;s racial constellation...</p>
<p>...In this context, Jews who bristled under the pressures of acculturation often found black culture to be a welcome escape valve...</p>
<p>...After 1965, however, two major shifts began to occur in American Jewish identity. First, a growing acceptance of difference in American culture lessened the pressure on Jews to downplay their distinctiveness. Second, the emergence of Black Power movements and civil rights legislation that identified minority status with peoples of color made many Jews uneasy with how they were now defined as part of the white power structure, a designation that cut against their own &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; consciousness. Ironically, having begun to achieve the privileged status they had long sought, they now felt troubled by the threatened loss of their group distinctiveness...</p>
<p>...The fact that Jewish integration has continued to reach unprecedented levels in recent years helps explain the intensifying appeal of African American culture, which gives contemporary Jews a powerful tool for asserting their difference. Unlike the flirtations of Jews with black culture in the 1920s and 1930s, today&rsquo;s Jewish interest in hip-hop, reggae, African American-Jewish celebrities and black cultural style is part of a broader assertion of Jewish particularity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=2612"><em><strong>Read more...</strong></em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=2612"><em><strong>Download directly...</strong></em></a></p>
<p>To read more publications at intersections of Black and Jewish history, see this special&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/viewPublishedBookshelf.cfm?id=52759DE4-2590-26BF-AE830B622A7753ED"><strong>Bookshelf for Black History Month</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p>
<p>(Remember, if you're a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Login/register.cfm">registered</a>&nbsp;user [it's free], you can&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bjpa.org/_Admin/Bookshelf/adminBookshelf.cfm">create bookshelves</a>&nbsp;like this one to save sets of BJPA documents for later. Keep them private, or publish them to the web to share with colleagues. Sort manually, or automatically by date or title. View or print the lists, or export to MS Word for easy bibliographies.)</p>
Black-Jewish relationsBlack History MonthdiversityraceidentitycultureFri, 10 Feb 2012 08:30:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/10/Jews--Black-American-CultureJ-Vault for Black History Monthhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/7/JVault-for-Black-History-Month
<p><img align="middle" border="0" alt="J-Vault logo" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/jvault_web_logo.JPG" /></p>
<p>In honor of Black History Month, throughout February this blog will highlight selections at intersections of Black and Jewish history. Some such publications will make us proud; others -- like this one -- will certainly not. The Jewish community is (rightly) proud of its record in the struggle for recognition of the civil rights of African-Americans, but it is also important to remember that this record is not spotless. The Jewish community too -- and even the profession of Jewish communal service -- was capable of including professionals who might make reference to racist &quot;science&quot; (see the first paragraph quoted below), or refer to African culture with the phrase &quot;<em>tainted</em> with African history&quot; (further below; emphasis added).</p>
<p><strong>This week, from the J-Vault: </strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=12330"><em><strong>Negro &quot;Jews&quot; : A Social Study </strong></em></a>(1933)</p>
<p>The quotation marks in the title speak volumes by themselves about the author's hostility toward his subjects. Excerpts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Negro Jews as an organization or social unit are non-existent elsewhere than in America. There is an Indian-Negro sect in the West Indies that historically taboos pork and may thus claim a relationship in consideration of its present rite, and its former questionable ancestry. The only dark skinned foreign group that is Jewish in ancestry and practice is the Abyssinian Jew or Falasha, and scientific investigation places this rather pure strain in the white race. Therefore, the Falasha Jew is not included in this study. Our specific problem as social workers is the so-called &quot;Jewish&quot; Negro in New York City...</p>
<p>...Before attempting to analyze the sociological import of these groups of associations of &quot;Jewish&quot; Negroes, it is essential that we be familiar with their history and background, and have a knowledge of social conditions in New York City and in the West Indies from which a large portion of these adherents derive. Exact names and titles have been disguised, without affecting the underlying facts...</p>
<p>...In 1900, Abraham, a twenty-year-old fish peddler of Norfolk, Virginia, and to some extent a religious mystic, convinced himself, aided by the fact of similarity of occupation, that he was the second Jesus Christ. He gathered about him a group of people, and conducted services as the &quot;Church of Eternity.&quot; For several years, as father of the new sect, he conducted business at this stand, until 1908 when he was evicted for being a nuisance...</p>
<p>...His method of raising money was to select a small tradesman in the neighborhood and direct group members to deal there. Later Abraham would visit the merchant and convince him that as his customers were mostly members of the group he should join. Of course, as a member, the new constituent gave up his possessions to the church... The women who joined had to forswear their marital ties. Husbands and wives became &quot;brothers and sisters&quot; in their mutual relations. They gave one another up to the group; the women were supposed to be held in common, but actually they were reserved to the priests, and in time largely to. one priest, Abraham. This man had a great number of illegitimate children within the group; in the latter period many were children whom he had by his own children. Pregnant women were kept on a &quot;baby farm&quot; which the group owned in Absecon, New Jersey...</p>
<p>...The second group of importance is known as the Church of the Promised Land and Talmud Torah. It was the parent organization of the Sons of Israel. Rabbi Joseph, formerly mentioned in connection with Rabbi Jacob, was the godfather of this institution in Harlem, with a branch in Brooklyn. Rabbi Joseph of Florida, and a &quot;voodoo&quot; man from a nationalistic Negro association, directed the Talmud Torah, which was organized in connection with this church. The group was incorporated July 1921. The group split up in 1922 and Rabbi Jacob organized the Sons of Israel.</p>
<p>Rabbi Jacob's ideas were gathered from the Abraham group, and the Garvey movement from which he had been ousted. He built up a membership of several hundred. This group was the only authentic one of all the &quot;Jewish&quot; Negro groups, in that services were conducted with Jewish aspects, tinged, however, with Mahommedanism. Its entire life was over six years. Rabbi Jacob employed several white Jews to instruct his congregation in Jewish ways, and arranged for the children to be instructed at the Institutional Synagogue Talmud Torah, which is under the auspices of persons prominent in Orthodox Jewish circles...</p>
<p>...The oldest organization, or parent group, is known as the &quot;Church of Eternity.&quot; Its membership is composed of a group of Negroes claiming to be Jews. It is located in Harlem in New York City. The majority of the membership is of West Indian derivation... History unfolds the parable in the West Indies during the Sixteenth Century when some eight hundred Jews are reported to have been exiled from England and to have intermarried with the native and Negro populations. Although Christianity was the prevailing enforced religion, Judaism is supposed to have been/ practiced privately...</p>
<p>...Being left to themselves in the West Indies, the Negroes develop certain stories which are all tainted with African history and preceded by African background. And, when added to this is the story of the Bible, of the Jews being delivered by both the Egyptian and Babylonish captivities, these black natives imagine all sorts of fantastic plans for the redemption of Africa. They identify themselves with the Ancient Jews; they think of themselves as the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea...</p>
<p>...The only reason these groups called themselves Jews rather than something non-Jewish seems to be based on the fact that they, Abraham and Gabriel, had run the entire gamut of Christian beliefs. To do something new, and thus attractive, they could become only either Jews or Mohammedans, as only these groups would not reject them. Abraham and Gabriel could not adopt Mohammedanism because they knew nothing about it and had no way of learning because of their ignorance of Arabic. Jews always recognize Jews as fellows in persecution. Gad (the Arabian) knew Hebrew and Yiddish, and all the group knew the Bible; so it was easy for them to take over the Jewish title. They used to have letterheads with inscriptions in Yiddish and Hebrew, concerning their alleged orphan asylum, old folks home, school, etc. They were thus in a position to prey on the Jews in New York. The movement was almost purely mercenary and lascivious, although some of the leaders were sincere in their misguided beliefs.</p>
<p>Of the entire Negro population of the world which is estimated at 200,000,000, over 224,670 live in New York City within an - area of two square miles. Judaism is professed by four small groups in New York City fast disintegrating because of intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. There is no anthropological verity in their claims. Manifestly engendered by the African desire for free emotional expression and the personal ambition of local religious leaders rather than racial self-assertion, this movement gathered momentum under the Garvey impulse. But being founded in ignorance and self-aggrandizement it has lost power and personnel with the spread of Negro education and Negro internationalism. Therefore, upon analysis, except for its exploitation aspect, the problem resolves itself into a Negro one and, therefore, outside of the realm of Jewish social service&mdash; except from the broader humanitarian and internationalistic viewpoint.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=12330">Read more...</a><br />
</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=12330">Download directly...</a><br />
</strong></em></p>
<p><img align="middle" border="0" alt="J-Vault logo" style="width: 123px; height: 108px;" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/lock.JPG" /></p>
<p>To read more publications at intersections of Black and Jewish history, see this special <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/viewPublishedBookshelf.cfm?id=52759DE4-2590-26BF-AE830B622A7753ED"><strong>Bookshelf for Black History Month</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p>
<p>(Remember, if you're a <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Login/register.cfm">registered</a> user [it's free], you can <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/_Admin/Bookshelf/adminBookshelf.cfm">create bookshelves</a> like this one to save sets of BJPA documents for later. Keep them private, or publish them to the web to share with colleagues. Sort manually, or automatically by date or title. View or print the lists, or export to MS Word for easy bibliographies.)</p>
Black-Jewish relationsJ-VaultBlack History Monthpeoplehoodracismhistorydemographicsdiversityraceidentityjewish identificationcultureTue, 07 Feb 2012 08:45:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/7/JVault-for-Black-History-MonthThe Dolphiner Rebbe: Football and Religionhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/3/The-Dolphiner-Rebbe-Football-and-Religion
<p><img border="0" align="middle" alt="Patriots" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/Pats.jpg" /></p>
<p><sub>(<em>Photo: New England Patriots / Associated Press</em>)</sub></p>
<p>In advance of Super Bowl Sunday, here's a gem from 1973 by <a href="http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=105469">Rabbi Solomon Schiff</a>, who served for a time as a chaplain to the Miami Dolphins: <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=9553"><strong>Judaism and Professional Football.</strong></a></p>
<p>Some excerpts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My close relationship with the team has convinced me that theology and sports have a close kinship, that the message of religion can have its greatest audience in football, and that a game played well can be the best sermon and can provide a positive influence to vast numbers of people...</p>
The Miami Dolphins is the only team in professional football which begins each home game with a public invocation. The invocations are given by clergymen of the various faiths on a rotating basis. Besides the public invocation before each game, there is a Catholic Mass and a non-denominational service. Seeing the men at these services you would never guess that they are the same ones who an hour or so later would be tearing and ripping their enemies apart on the field of combat. At the service they sit in prayerful humility, recognizing that whatever their talents and abilities, they were God-given, and that the game of football must be played with honesty and integrity, and according to the rules...<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>...Religion has played an important role in creating a fellowship atmosphere, which is part of the championship formula for the Miami Dolphins. The team feels a genuine sense of identity with a higher being. There is a real understanding that the game is a part of the overall game of life, that the important thing is to play the game well and according to the rules. As I said in part of my invocation at the Dolphins-Buffalo Bills game on December 20, 1970, &quot;May this game serve as an example for the higher game of life, for the success of both is attained by fair play, hard work, and striving for the goal.&quot;...<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>...Most of the players feel the importance of religion in their personal and professional lives. They feel this on a mature level. They don't have the childish concept that &quot;G-d is on our side&quot; or that &quot;HE is a Dolphin fan.&quot; Their prayer is not so much for victory but rather that they be given the health to do their best and to prove worthy of their championship abilities.<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>...Perhaps the best illustration of the great opportunity that professional football has for promoting spiritual values was seen in September 1972. This was evidenced following the Arab terrorist massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich. [Dolphins Managing General Partner] Joe Robbie, who attended the games at Munich, was extremely pained at the tragedy... He asked Rev. Edward T. Graham, Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, who was scheduled to deliver the invocation for the following game, to devote the prayer to the Munich tragedy. The game which was to be played on September 10th, only five days after the massacre, was between the Dolphins and the Minnesota Vikings at the Orange Bowl. The game was to be nationally televised on CBS. Mr. Robbie called Mr. Pete Rozelle, Commissioner of the National Football League, to inform him of this and to insist that CBS carry the prayer and the minute of silence that was to be a part of the memorial service...<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>...Mr. Robbie was subsequently selected to be the recipient of an Honorary Fellowship by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at an event marking the establishment of the Physical Education &amp; Physical Fitness Center at the Hebrew University in memory of the eleven Israeli athletes slain at the Munich Olympics.<br />
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=9553"><em><strong>Read more...</strong></em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=9553"><em><strong>Download directly...</strong></em></a></p>
community relationssportsdiscoursereligiondialoguecultureFri, 03 Feb 2012 08:30:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/3/The-Dolphiner-Rebbe-Football-and-ReligionDo Jews Switch Parties Every 70 Years?http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/1/10/Do-Jews-Switch-Parties-Every-70-Years
<p>Today being the day of the New Hampshire primary elections, with the eyes of the nation fixed on the contest for the Republican nomination, it's as good a day as any to ask: <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=2477"><strong>Are American Jews Becoming Republican?</strong></a></p>
<p>Steven Windmueller isn't exactly saying &quot;yes&quot; in this 2003 article, but does note that the Democratic near-monopoly on Jewish voting does seem to be cracking:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Where once the Democratic Party could count on a 90 percent Jewish turnout for its candidates, these numbers are now generally 60-75 percent, depending upon particular elections and specific candidates... there is some evidence that younger Jews do not hold the same degree of loyalty to the Democratic Party and, as a result, are more likely to register as Independent or Republican. Thus, the Republican Party may have a better chance of picking up the Jewish vote in the towns inhabited by young professionals in northern New Jersey than in the retirement communities of southern Florida. While these numbers do not indicate a definitive generational trend, it does appear that both Orthodox Jews and Jews who are from more secular backgrounds tend to vote Republican more frequently than do other Jewish constituencies, clearly for different ideological, political, and cultural reasons.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Furthermore, he notes, Jews switching party allegiances is not unprecedented:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>From 1860 until the election of Franklin Roosevelt, American Jews voted overwhelmingly Republican. Just as Lincoln was perceived as a hero of the Jewish people through his leadership in overturning Grant's Order No. 11 and in leading the fight against slavery while seeking to preserve the Union, Roosevelt would fulfill a similar role for Jews beginning with his efforts to build a new coalition of political power to transform the economy and later to mobilize the nation against Nazism...</p>
<p>...Theodore Roosevelt was the last Republican to receive significant Jewish support; his fierce independence and support of specific Jewish concerns made him a hero to many within this community. Democrat Woodrow Wilson would capture the attention of many American Jews with his internationalist vision and, more directly, his ideas pertaining to the creation of a League of Nations. In addition, Wilson's nomination of Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court, his endorsement of the Balfour Declaration and later Zionist claims in Palestine, and his condemnation of anti-Semitism both domestic and foreign would begin the repositioning of Jewish political loyalties and voting patterns.</p>
<p>While the leadership of the Jewish community remained staunchly Republican, including such personalities as Louis Marshall, the leader of the American Jewish Committee, and a host of other key players of that era, the bulk of the community was to shift party allegiance as a result of changes within the community and in American society... The last Republican presidential candidate to win a plurality of the Jewish vote was Warren Harding in 1920...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Windmueller gleans general lessons on Jewish party-switching:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jewish voting patterns may undergo significant change at those times in which Jews sense that their self-interests are being challenged, and that it is essential for them to evaluate their political position within the society. This occurred at the time of Lincoln, during the Wilson era, and as a result of the Great Depression. Whether in fact Jewish voting patterns shift significantly in seventy-year cycles remains to be seen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The idea of seventy-year cycles is fascinating. Clearly Windmueller isn't suggesting anything fixed and regular like clockwork, but the notion that generational dynamics produce pendulum-like political trends would be worth further study, both within the Jewish community and beyond it.</p>
conservatismdemocracypoliticshistoryliberalismorthodox judaismgenerational issuesvaluespolitical behaviorgovernmentcultureTue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/1/10/Do-Jews-Switch-Parties-Every-70-YearsHanukkah and the Other December Dilemmashttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/12/20/Hanukkah-and-the-Other-December-Dilemmas
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/hanukkiah1.jpg" alt="Hanukkiah" /></p>
<p>Hopefully you saw <a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs070/1102433540041/archive/1108980732551.html">our December newsletter on intermarriage,</a> but as the Festival of Lights begins, it is appropriate to note that not every &quot;December Dilemma&quot; has anything whatsoever to do with intermarriage. Tonight begins Hanukkah, a holiday defined in America by its awkward juxtaposition with Christmas -- a juxtaposition which is the source of much consternation, but also, perhaps, an entirely appropriate layer of meaning. Here are a few publications on the subject.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7442">High school student Jessica Schutz tells the story</a> of her family's &quot;Hanukkah bush&quot; and her own response: &quot;I was forced to question my identity as a Jew. What kind of Jew was I? What entitled me to bear that title, besides birth to a Jewish mother?&quot;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Nancy-Wallack&amp;AuthorID=6000">Nancy Wallack</a> looks at Hanukkah cards and <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=9666">doesn't like what she sees: </a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jews' beefing up of Chanukah celebrations to console our children (and perhaps ourselves), has crept into cards mixing Christmas and Chanukah, gentile and Jewish imagery. Mealy-mouthed &quot;seasons greetings&quot; are joined with wishes for &quot;Shalom.&quot; My guess is that the Shalom is a straight translation of the Christian concept of the coming of or the promise of peace, in the birth of the Prince of Peace. Carolers sing, &quot;Peace on earth, good will to men,&quot; why not extend this to our friends the Jews?</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Steven-Greenberg&amp;AuthorID=1817">Steven Greenberg</a> seeks <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=8041">&quot;a plausible meaning of Hanukkah&quot;</a> that can be shared with non-Jewish friends and neighbors, specifically thinking of the common situation of explaining the holiday to public schoolchildren. He settles on two:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>1. Hanukkah celebrates the strength it takes to be different. The Jewish people had a different way of looking at the world than their Greek neighbors. Although they learned much from Greek culture, Jews were proud of their very different way of living life. Everyone knows what it's like to be in the minority. We all are, in some way, different from the pack. It takes a lot of courage to be unique, to like yourself when you march to a different drummer. It takes even more courage to fight for what you believe in. Hanukkah celebrates the freedom everyone needs to be a little, or sometimes a lot different, from the majority.</p>
<p>2. Hanukkah means rededication. When Judah rededicated the Temple, he was also rededicating his people to their vision of the world, the Jewish dream of a world of justice and goodness. Justice and goodness are easier to talk about than to do. It takes a lot of work. Anyone can get tired working for even the greatest of goals. That's why rededication is so important. We all need a &quot;Hanukkah&quot; to remind us of our dreams as we work in small ways to make them happen, little by little, every day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A final thought, in synthesis of these three perspectives: if a holiday can be seen as, in addition to a time to celebrate, a challenge to us to live up to that holiday's message, then Hanukkah's juxtaposition with Christmas could not possibly be more appropriate. As Wallack laments, it is true that Christmas often threatens to engulf Hanukkah and replace its native meanings. But, as Schutz discovers, this confrontation can crystallize the questions we must ask ourselves as Jews, and force us to ask them. The season may be a difficult time to be different, but as Rabbi Greenberg notes, it is an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to being different.</p>
<p><em>Ḥag urim sameaḥ!</em></p>
beliefassimilationidentityreligionholidayscultureTue, 20 Dec 2011 09:00:00 -0500http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/12/20/Hanukkah-and-the-Other-December-Dilemmas